corruption and struggling to protect the environment in Africa. Today she was
honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Don Murray reports.
A fanfare in Oslo for the first African woman to receive the prize for peace
given in the name of the man who made his fortune from dynamite.
Gwangare Matai is Kenyan and the founder of the green belt movement. For 30 years
its members, mostly women, have planted trees, 30 million of them, in a battle
against deforestation. For the past two years she's been the deputy minister of
the environment. Her award transformed this sober ceremony into something of an
African celebration. While the awards committee looked on soberly. But the
prize also provoked controversy. Some critics protested that Matai was more
deserving of an environmental than a peace prize. Much of her speech was
devoted to rebutting that criticism. By so doing they plant a seed of peace.
She stressed that her movement by allowing people to take control of their
local environment encouraged them to pursue civil rights and democracy.
The state of any country's environment is the reflection of the human rights of all.